Thursday, December 31, 2015

tata 2015 ... you have been challenging

2015 has been a really challenging year with alot alot of changes... alot alot of shocking moments... alot alot of major decisions thinking and makinganyway, let's start with the 13 items on my bucket list set in the beginning of the year ... (1) stay happily married to Mr Ang Kokdefinitely a yes into our 5th year as a wedded couple... it took a short while of getting use to him flying frequently for work and doing lots of overtime... he's still searching for what he really want as a career, taking risk, grabbing opportunities.... jiayou jiayou hubby.... as long as it's a legal path, as long as you are capable of supporting yourself and our home sweet home during your quest, i will always support ur fluctuating ideas and decisions.... =P thank you for the effort in sending me to school every morning just so that we can have a little more we-time and especially so that i can sleep half an hour more every day.... thank you for driving me all the way to Chinatown Point every weekend to get my woobbee bubble tea and for attending gym classes with me too... i can never thank you enough for being the best in my life.....

(2) continue with our once a term Chua gatheringthis wasn't really that successful.... as 蔡 mummy's health wasn't on the good side in the beginning of the year and had to undergo an operation in May to remove a chunk of her large intestine due to a 2nd stage cancer tumor which thank god had not spread.... then she started babysitting Val and Mathew in August which sort of grounded her to the house, especially on weekends.... but we made do and survived a 10 day trip to Japan... full attendance .... =)

(3) Enjoy my 100% art timetable and being a co-form teacherwell... enjoy and do not enjoy at the same time.... reasons that make them enjoyable:- very little and limited to 3 bands rubrics marking as i do not believe in giving out A, B and C to every piece of work... i strongly believe that learning art is for enjoyment and for the process involved.... - no need to handle as much parents and students over petty issues - back to being a beginning teacher who goes home straight after dismissal 99% of the days... hooray

reasons that make them not so enjoyable:- the super packed timetable which didnt leave me sufficient time to take a breather and have a proper lunch on most days

- no resources available in the art room to bring about more interesting art lessons.... lessons were confined to recycled materials, basic art resources such as oil pastels and water colour or materials paid from my own pockets (chalk for kolem, aluminum foils for 3D sculptures, black paper for notan, cloth pegs for class display etc) and also restricted to art forms by countries; singapore art for p1, southeast asia for p2, asia for p3, the world for p4.... - no involvement in art club as a teacher as it was entirely vendor run with instructions from direct boss... my job was just to take attendance and 'try' to maintain discipline... i wasnt even involved in syf.... #epicfailartteacher

- no form class = no anchoring point.... i float in and out of all classes ..... but thankfully, i was partnered with a great form teacher who tried to keep me in the loop for my co-form class.... - no longer in-charge of art means that i wasn't needed to think about work which made me feel very useless after the honeymoon period (first term), upset that my suggestions were just put on hold with no follow up which resulted in me being super unmotivated to think of work in the later part of the year- did a plentiful of CCE projects instead and enjoyed them just because this dept boss is decisive, on the ball and very capable.... but 有缘无份, there's no way i can transfer dept to work under her given my art portfolio.... cons outweigh pros and hence my no pay leave for next year.... guess i am a 劳碌命 who though complains lots, #typical singaporean, when i have plenty to do yet secretly enjoy doing them for self-worth.... my motivation hit a all-time low... i felt useless, unwanted, unwelcome and definitely not deserving of the salary that i was given.... mood was low and it somehow affected all my other activities... no mood to blog, no mood to meet people, no mood to go out... i was basically just mopping around most of the time... =S

(4) stay healthier and hopefully lose some flabbinessmanaged to clock 7 to 8 hours of sleep for most days as i get to wake up at 7am every work day... cos sch starts at 8am, reporting time is at 740am, mr ang drives me to school, travelling time is approx 15 mins... =) may not hit the 2 litres of water that i hope to achieve daily but definitely more than a litre a day cos lugging a water bottle along for classes has became a habit.... art teachers definitely talks more than most other teachers cos there's absolutely no silent sit-work time.... thanks to Mr Ang, i signed up for my very first gym package with True Fitness.... and also thanks to him for accompanying me, dragging me for gym classes.... was really hardworking initially... could attend up to 8 classes a month... then as the months go by, the average number of classes attended dipped.... but i did try to go for at least one cycling session per week... =P and with wobbee being relocated from hougang central to Chinatown point since july... i am down to only 1 cup of passion fruit green tea with aiyu a week (for most weeks) and i managed to have it at 0% sugar... =)..... to compensate for this.... it's one BIG cup a week..... wahahahahaha(5) lots of oversea tripswell, went Japan with the Chuas in June, a short getaway to Melaka with Mr Ang in August... surprise surprise... no trip at all despite the long dec break.... very minimal travelling this year compared to the last few years but with our korea trip confirmed for feb next year, no complains... heee (6) read my camera menu and start taking better picturesNo... it did not happen.... hahahahaha... but i did bring my pen lite E6 along to Japan and photos turned out decent under angela's manipulation .... =)

(7) Do more volunteering with Mr AngNopx... did not happen as well.... i dropped out of Dreamcatcher 2015 after attending 9 hours because i felt i wasnt able to contribute to the program... clocked 2 hours with Willing Hearts with the school's via program (8) donate blood at least thrice a yeardue to my irregular meal time during school term, my iron level dropped tremendously... so badly that i was rejected TWICE for blood donation... =S... shall try again next year.... (9) do little sweet/kind acts to strangers - gave ang baos to the estate cleaners we passed by during CNY- gave my forever friends umbrella to a stranger during a thunderstorm upon reaching my block- bought children's day presents from a special artist

(10) donate my ponytail for the recycle your hair project yes yes yes... my ponytail FINALLY exceeded the minimum length of 10 inches in September and off they went to join the pony tails of other donors to be made into a wig for a child who lost her hair due to having to go through chemo.... =D

quite silky smooth yeah?!?!?!?! =P

(11) Blog readership to reach 400+ per daydid not happen... in fact it was going in the other direction.... haven been in the mood to blog much..... no mood to take pictures on any sch events, not even my art lessons in sem 2, (12) Continue to meet up with friends i love...

since 1995

top of the list is definitely lene.... someone who knows the real me and accepts me for who i am and make time and effort to keep our friendship going....

Achievement not targeted nor expected but achieved.... =D(*) i am an A3 liao.... Thank you ex-bosses for the recognition... (*) submitted artworks for an exhibition ... was once a goal to participate in either a;edge or pupil teacher exhibition once every 2 years but chicken out due to the high standard of work i saw at previous exhibition so was super happy to chance upon this stress-less exhibition, Pameran Poskad 2015, through fid....

(*) signed up for painting class using LDS... attended 1 out of 8 lessons.... very reluctant to continue ... course expiring in feb.... haix.... (*) thanks kok yong for organising.... we had our very first ang outing... happy happy....

(*) finally dyed my hair.... the last dye was when i was 25... that's like 9-10 years ago..... had wanted to do this amazing peek-a-boo style....

but it just didnt happen... blame it on me to trust a JB stylist... blame it on me to keep telling the lady that i dun want it to be too obvious... blame it on me that i wasnt paying attention to how it was being carried out and totally din see that only 3 sections of hair was dyed... and definitely blame it on me to not dare show my unhappiness when it didnt turn out as expected....

this is the first year where nearly half of my resolutions are in the NOPE column.... =S .... well, what goes down must come up.... 2015 has been naughty.... 2016 would be better.... i am very sure..... =D